Turkey pledges to slow enormous tide of refugees

Syrians prepare to cross the Aegean Sea to the Greek island of Lesbos from Turkish town of Ayvacik.

Syrians prepare to cross the Aegean Sea to the Greek island of Lesbos from Turkish town of Ayvacik.

Photo: Bulent Kilic, AFP / Getty Images

Photo: Bulent Kilic, AFP / Getty Images

Image
1of/1

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 1

Syrians prepare to cross the Aegean Sea to the Greek island of Lesbos from Turkish town of Ayvacik.

Syrians prepare to cross the Aegean Sea to the Greek island of Lesbos from Turkish town of Ayvacik.

Photo: Bulent Kilic, AFP / Getty Images

Turkey pledges to slow enormous tide of refugees

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

ANKARA, Turkey — Turkey all but turned a blind eye last year as more than 850,000 people, most of them Syrians, slipped into Greece from Turkey on smugglers’ boats. Now it’s promised the European Union that will change.

Since reaching a deal with the EU in November, Turkey has stepped up its counter-smuggling efforts, increasing sea patrols, detaining thousands before they make the sea crossings, cracking down on trafficking groups and raiding workshops that produce bogus life jackets or dinghies.

In return for trying to stem the flux, Turkey is to receive a $3.3 billion fund to help it deal with the refugee crisis, a much-awaited easing of EU visa restrictions for Turkish citizens and sped-up EU membership talks.

The government — under pressure to get results before a key meeting March 7 with the EU — is upbeat, insisting the measures already have made a “visible difference.” But the thousands of refugees still entering Greece every week paint a different picture, underscoring the uphill battle that Turkey and Europe face.

“There has been a visible decrease in the numbers of migrants crossing illegally,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus told journalists. But he quickly added: “To reduce the numbers to zero, however, is impossible. No country has the power to do so.”

The International Organization for Migration says more than 102,500 people have crossed into Greece and more than 7,500 into Italy this year. Last year, that number wasn’t reached before June.

For Turkey to take control of a land-and-sea border that exceeds 6,215 miles is a huge challenge. In response to the crisis, NATO has ordered three warships to sail to the Aegean Sea to help Greece, Turkey and the EU border agency Frontex conduct sea patrols.

In the meantime, Turkey has its own migration issues. The number of refugees Turkey is now hosting has swelled to 3 million — 2.6 million of them from Syria — so that last year Turkey overtook Pakistan as the country with the largest refugee population in the world. Along with that, Turkey remains on the main transit route for refugees heading to Europe.

Turkey stopped 156,000 migrants attempting to make the illegal journey last year, including 91,000 caught at sea, Kurtulmus said. It also apprehended almost 4,800 smugglers in 2015, he said.